The Southampton Open Wireless Network

What is SOWN?

SOWN (the Southampton Open Wireless Network) is a project which aims to build a free-to-use wireless network in Southampton, UK. It is part of of the Southampton University Wireless Society (SUWS) which is also an Amateur Radio club. Our initial focus has been the University campus and Portswood / Highfield areas since that is where we live and spend most of our time, however anybody is welcome to join in and start setting up additional coverage in their area. Look at our wiki to find out more about SOWN.

Where is SOWN?

How do I connect to SOWN?

Unfortunately, we can currently only offer Internet access on our access points to staff and students from institutions who are part of the Eduroam, "the secure, world-wide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community." We are working on once again being able to provide community accounts, allowing anyone to sign up and then connect to the Internet through our access points using the new network name (SSID) SOWN-RADIUS.

SOWN hold weekly meetings and are looking for more people to become involved so please come and join the fun!

We also hold monthly workshops that give the opportunity for everyone to get together and play with the network and wireless kit.

How can I help expand the coverage of SOWN?

You can request to host a SOWN[at]HOME node by filling in a node request. Please be aware that nodes can only be requested by staff/students of the University of Southampton. Due to the University's regulations, students in halls are not permitted to host nodes.